For Giving or For Getting

"O my people, trust in him at all times. Pour out your heart to him, for God is our refuge. Common people are as worthless as a puff of wind, and the powerful are not what they appear to be. If you weigh them on the scales, together they are lighter than a breath of air. Don’t make your living by extortion or put your hope in stealing. And if your wealth increases, don’t make it the center of your life. God has spoken plainly, and I have heard it many times: Power, O God, belongs to you; unfailing love, O Lord, is yours. Surely you repay all people according to what they have done. Psalms 62:8-12 NLT

In today's Upper Room devotional, the writer highlights a very important truth that there are countless events in life that may cause us to feel forgotten or abandoned or lonely. During such times we may forget God's presence and search for comfort in all the wrong places. We need to experience the truth that St Augustine of Hippo found:

“You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our heart is restless until it rests in you.”

The current Covid 19 pandemic is, to quote C.S. Lewis, God's megaphone to rouse a deaf world:

"God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pain: it is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world."

Watching the plight of the poor and homeless is depressing and heartbreaking but it opened my eyes to the truth in Psalm 62 this morning:

"Common people are as worthless as a puff of wind, and the powerful are not what they appear to be. If you weigh them on the scales, together they are lighter than a breath of air."

The poor are struggling to live in the face of poverty while the rich are worried to death from the economic collapse of the world's financial systems. It is a time to remember our common fears and needs and that all of us, rich or poor, are precious in God's sight:

"What are mere mortals that you should think about them, human beings that you should care for them? Yet you made them only a little lower than God and crowned them with glory and honor." Psalms 8:4-5 NLT

The good news is that through Jesus Christ, God wants us to remember that we are His beloved children and He is waiting patiently for us to return to Him like the prodigal son - for us to take time away from our diversions and distractions of modern life and to spend time with Him so that we will find true peace - peace with God and peace in God.

It is a time for us to confess that we have forgotten God's unfailing Love and that we have let our love for God grow cold. We are all guilty of living a life that is obsessed about getting and taking instead of waiting on God so that we can receive His mercy and grace in order to give His mercy and grace to others. This is the fifth key to the Kingdom of Heaven:

"Great blessings belong to those who show mercy to others. Mercy will be given to them." Matthew 5:7 ERV

The Kingdom of Heaven is an upside down Kingdom which even the disciples did not comprehend when Jesus was with them. Even after hearing Jesus telling the rich man to sell all his possessions to give to the poor so that he will have treasure in heaven and as Jesus was preparing them for his impending death on the cross, James and John saw life in heaven from a totally self centred perspective:

"Then James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came over and spoke to him. “Teacher,” they said, “we want you to do us a favor.” “What is your request?” he asked. They replied, “When you sit on your glorious throne, we want to sit in places of honor next to you, one on your right and the other on your left.” Mark 10:35-37 NLT

This is a temptation all of us face for we are all driven by our egos and we edged God out.  We seek honour for ourselves instead of seeking to bring honour to God. Jesus died on the cross to turn the world upside down and to empower the disciples to live out His commandments of love:

"So Jesus called them together and said, “You know that the rulers in this world lord it over their people, and officials flaunt their authority over those under them.  But among you it will be different. Whoever wants to be a leader among you must be your servant,  and whoever wants to be first among you must be the slave of everyone else.  For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve others and to give his life as a ransom for many.” Mark 10:42-45 NLT"

The Christian faith is not about trying to get love from others or from God but to receive love from God so that we can give God's unfailing Love to others. Life is for giving and not for getting. Only then can we learn to share and not to hoard, to care and not to condemn, to forgive and not to forget the countless times when we have failed to be the person that God wants us to be. When we forget God we cannot forgive. So let us pray:

"Abba Father, Let Me Be
Yours And Yours Alone.
May My Will For Ever Be
Evermore Your Own.

Never Let My Heart Grow Cold,
Never Let Me Go.
Abba Father, Let Me Be
Yours And Yours Alone."

The Heartbreaks of our Heavenly Father

"Don’t be misled—you cannot mock the justice of God. You will always harvest what you plant. Those who live only to satisfy their own sinful nature will harvest decay and death from that sinful nature. But those who live to please the Spirit will harvest everlasting life from the Spirit." Galatians 6:7-8 NLT

We are living in war zones all over the world. We are bombarded daily with messages and news of the Covid 19 pandemic in the mass media and over the Internet. We are forced to face the grim realities of disease, depression and death. But the hard truth is that we have been in a spiritual war zone ever since the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ:

"For we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places." Ephesians 6:12 NLT

We can see Covid 19 as a judgment of God. Or we can see it from the perspective of the cross of Christ to understand and feel the heartbreaks of God. Ten years ago I was worshipping in Covenant Community Methodist Church on Palm Sunday and I was touched by the words of the song, Hosanna:

"Break my heart from what breaks yours."

It gave me the inspiration to share the following thoughts in my book, Living With Our Heavenly Father:

"Parents experience helplessness and pain when they are not able to comfort their crying child or when their children suffer through acts of disobedience. Likewise, God suffers with us in our pain. As our Heavenly Father, His heart is broken when the church brings dishonour to His name, when we destroy and pollute our Father's world, and when we inflict suffering on others.

During Easter of 2010, the Catholic Church was rocked by the scandal of the paedophilic Catholic priests in some of the Western countries. It was a reminder of how the church can be infected by evil. A couple of weeks later, news of the major environmental disaster with the explosion and sinking of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico on 20th April 2010 hit the headlines. We human beings have been irresponsible stewards of God's creation. It was a price we have to pay for our technological advances in transport and our dependence on oil.

Man's inhumanity towards one another in wars has also caused untold suffering and death to millions of innocent women and children. In the face of human suffering, our pride leads us to accuse God of being impotent, angry or uncaring instead of empathising with the brokenness of the heart of our Heavenly Father.

In the face of evil and suffering in the world, we need to understand the pain God suffers when mankind misuse and abuse His blessings - when we exercise our free will to gratify our selfish desires instead of seeking to bring His kingdom on earth. Jesus died a horrible death on the cross with the anguish cry, "My God, my God, why have You forsaken me?" to show us that God knows and is with us in our pain and suffering. 

To grow deeper into the love of God, we can see our heartbreaks as opportunities to understand some of the things that are breaking God's heart. We need to learn to walk to the heart beat of our Abba Father instead of marching to the drum beat of the world."

God is using the Covid 19 virus to wake us up:

"Actually, it is shameful to even talk about the things those people do in secret. But the light makes clear how wrong those things are. Yes, everything is made clear by the light. This is why we say, “Wake up, you who are sleeping! Rise from death, and Christ will shine on you.” Ephesians 5:12-14 ERV

The Covid 19 virus is a wake up call to seek answers to the existential questions of life:

What am I living for?

What is the purpose of life?

Am I worshipping the gods of wealth, health and longevity?

Am I trying to get a passport to heaven after I die? Or am I seeking God and waiting on Him to transform my fears, anxiety, anger and doubts - my little hells life on earth into experiences of heaven on earth through God's Presence and Peace? 

Last year, I had journalled the following thoughts:

"The world has become a hotbed of corruption, violence, greed, drunkenness and gluttonous orgies.' Are we righteous, blameless and walking in close fellowshp with God or are we caught up in self-gratifying addictions and caustic ways?"

"God's Word says that He lives in us, but some people find this truth difficult to understand. We have the treasure of God's promise within us, but many who believe in Jesus never experience the joy of His presence or of continual fellowship with Him."

Like the Pharisees, I can study and even memorise verses from the bible but I had fail to practice paying attention and to be aware of the presence of God in my daily life. I may even be tempted to deny Christ like the apostle Peter. I have also often failed to follow the example of Nicodemus to speak up for Jesus:

“Have you been led astray, too?” the Pharisees mocked. “Is there a single one of us rulers or Pharisees who believes in him? This foolish crowd follows him, but they are ignorant of the law. God’s curse is on them!” Then Nicodemus, the leader who had met with Jesus earlier, spoke up. “Is it legal to convict a man before he is given a hearing?” he asked. They replied, “Are you from Galilee, too? Search the Scriptures and see for yourself—no prophet ever comes from Galilee!” John 7:47-52 NLT

We will reap what we sow - this is a spiritual law. Jesus came to give us a new commandment: love one another as I have loved you. When we help each other with one another's troubles we are obeying the law of Christ. (Galatians 6:2 ERV) The problems facing our world today is beyond politics and economics - we need a radical reframing of our thoughts towards death and money. Our minds need to be renewed and our hearts recharged so that we not live to satisfy our sinful nature but to live a life of praise and gratitude for God's mercy and grace.

Caring for the dying opened my eyes to our need to create space for God. Jesus has given us the fourth key to the Kingdom of Heaven:

"God blesses those who hunger and thirst for justice, for they will be satisfied." Matthew 5:6 NLT.

God's perfect will is for justice to flow like a river and  goodness to flow like a stream that never becomes dry. (Amos 5:24 ERV) Where there is justice, there will be no guilt or fear and we can face death with joy and peace. We will eradicate poverty when kindness fills our hearts instead of greed. The early disciples gave us an inspiring model of a co-operative society to follow:

"The whole group of believers was united in their thinking and in what they wanted. None of them said that the things they had were their own. Instead, they shared everything. With great power the apostles were making it known to everyone that the Lord Jesus was raised from death. And God blessed all the believers very much. None of them could say they needed anything. Everyone who owned fields or houses sold them. They brought the money they got and gave it to the apostles. Then everyone was given whatever they needed." Acts 4:32-35 ERV

Andy Baker shared in today's Upper Room devotional that  "God wants the church to be a family who cares for one another. We can care for one another by thanking the people around us for the blessings they bring to our lives and showing concern for the trials they may be facing. We can look beyond the church walls of our church buildings to tell those who are heading into "war zones" that they are not alone." It is an insight that is so relevant for us today.

This is the time for the Church to rise up as the Body of Christ, for Christians to be the temple of the Holy Spirit and for us to remember that we all belong to the family of God. We are at the dawn of a brand new earth in the second decade of the 21st century. May God's Kingdom come on earth as each one of us seek to do His will on earth as it is in heaven. Let us make the following our prayer for it is a prayer that we can be sure that God is patiently waiting to answer:

"Heal my heart and make it clean
Open up my eyes to the things unseen
Show me how to love like You have loved me
Break my heart for what breaks Yours"
Everything I am for Your kingdom's cause
As I walk from earth into eternity"

The Power Of One

"So get rid of everything evil in your lives—every kind of wrong you do. Be humble and accept God’s teaching that is planted in your hearts. This teaching can save you.  Do what God’s teaching says; don’t just listen and do nothing. When you only sit and listen, you are fooling yourselves."James 1:21-22 ERV

News about the Covid 19 pandemic dominate the air waves all over the world and have replaced "the horrific stories of destructive wars, persecution and mass shootings." Humanity are now fighting Covid 19 as its common enemy and the pandemic has awakened the spirit of compassion as well as revealing the evil that is hidden in our hearts. 

In these very difficult and unpredictable times, we truly need to pray that God will lead us out of temptation and to deliver us from evil. When we are tempted to judge and criticise others, we need to remember that the evil we see in others is but a mirror of the evil that is deep within our own hearts. We need to pay close attention to what God is saying to us in His Word:

“The heart is hopelessly dark and deceitful, a puzzle that no one can figure out. But I, God , search the heart and examine the mind. I get to the heart of the human. I get to the root of things. I treat them as they really are, not as they pretend to be.” Jeremiah 17:9-10 MSG

"Everyone rejects God; they are all morally corrupt. None of them does what is right, not even one!" Psalms 14:3 NET

"Obviously, the law applies to those to whom it was given, for its purpose is to keep people from having excuses, and to show that the entire world is guilty before God. For no one can ever be made right with God by doing what the law commands. The law simply shows us how sinful we are." Romans 3:19-20 NLT

"But when you look into God’s perfect law that sets people free, pay attention to it. If you do what it says, you will have God’s blessing. Never just listen to his teaching and forget what you heard.  You might think you are a very religious person. But if your tongue is out of control, you are fooling yourself. Your careless talk makes your offerings to God worthless." James 1:25-26 ERV

"So get rid of everything evil in your lives—every kind of wrong you do. Be humble and accept God’s teaching that is planted in your hearts. This teaching can save you." James 1:21 ERV

The bad news is that we are perfectly imperfect in this world but Jesus Christ has given us the keys to the Kingdom of Heaven here on earth where we are imperfectly perfect and being perfected. Covid 19 is revealing the truth of the third beatitude:

"God blesses those who are humble, for they will inherit the whole earth." Matthew 5:5 NLT

as well as the words of the prophet Isaiah:

"He humbles the proud and brings down the arrogant city. He brings it down to the dust." Isaiah 26:5 NLT

Humility is the third key into Kingdom the Heaven. We can only be humble when we recognise the sovereignty, mercy and grace of God in our lives and to respond by getting rid of everything evil in our lives. Our egos will drive us to do good to please God out of fear or guilt. But it is God who will change and is changing the world. We are not called to change the world but we are to pray for God to change us so that God can use us to change the world which is our inheritance. Life is not about us but all about God's S.O.S - Story Of Salvation through Jesus Christ. He came to reveal the power of the love that is fully manifested in one human being who is totally submitted to God:

"Though he was God, he did not think of equality with God as something to cling to. Instead, he gave up his divine privileges; he took the humble position of a slave and was born as a human being. When he appeared in human form, he humbled himself in obedience to God and died a criminal’s death on a cross." Philippians 2:6-8 NLT

The Covid 19 pandemic draws attention to the power of one - the importance of each person practicing social distancing to control the spread of the virus. Just as we have the power to infect others with negative thoughts of fear and greed, we have the power to be a blessing to others by sharing the good news of God's salvation.

We have the choice to spread thoughts from the social media that causes fear and lead others to the sins of lust, greed, pride, envy, anger, gluttony or sloth or we can seek to bear the fruit of the Holy Spirit - love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, humility and self control - by spending time with God as we practice social distancing. 

We can cultivate the spirit of humility through the discipline of self examination by paying attention to what God is saying to us through His written Word. It is not trying to know God through the bible but letting God reveal the truths about ourselves as we meditate on the bible. We can do so through the practice of lectio divina which comprises of:

Lectio - reading the word of God

Meditatio - reflecting on the word of God to listen to what God is saying to us through a particular word or verse that we have read

Oratia - responding to the word of God by deciding to put into practice the truth that God has planted in our hearts

Contemplatio - resting in God's loving embrace and to be aware and attentive as to how the Holy Spirit is leading us through the events and circumstances of the day.

In the bible we see the power of one in insignificant people like the slave girl who lead Naaman to the prophet Elijah and the widow of Zarepath who did what Elijah asked her to do. Mother Teresa taught us the importance of doing the small things with great love rather than striving to do great things to satisfy our egos. 

Each one of us can be the channel of the power of love when we purify our hearts from all evil. The world is dying spiritually and in need of spiritual healing. We can be part of God's problem or we can pray to be a part of God's solution by remembering that we are a part of the Body of Christ. Let us pray for a Spirit filled mind so that we will not be double minded with a divided heart. Paul Tournier gives us the following wise advice:

"The main thing in this world is not being sure what God's will is, but seeking it sincerely, and following what we do understand of it. The only possible answer to the destiny of man is to seek without respite to fulfill God's purpose."

God will give each one of us the power to make a difference in the world as we feed on His Word and grow in faith to face the fears, anxieties and sorrows that may lie ahead. May the words of the following hymn be an encouragement to all of us:

"How firm a foundation, ye saints of the Lord,
Is laid for your faith in His excellent word!
What more can He say than to you He hath said,
To you who for refuge to Jesus have fled?

“Fear not, I am with thee, O be not dismayed,
For I am thy God, and will still give thee aid;
I’ll strengthen thee, help thee, and cause thee to stand,
Upheld by My righteous, omnipotent hand.”

“When through the deep waters I call thee to go,
The rivers of sorrow shall not overflow;
For I will be with thee, thy troubles to bless,
And sanctify to thee thy deepest distress.”

Praise God for Covid 19?

"You will live in joy and peace. The mountains and hills will burst into song, and the trees of the field will clap their hands! Where once there were thorns, cypress trees will grow. Where nettles grew, myrtles will sprout up. These events will bring great honor to the Lord ’s name; they will be an everlasting sign of his power and love.” Isaiah 55:12-13 NLT

I woked up with this morning with the thought, "Praise God for Covid 19!" But how can we do so when Covid 19 has wreaked so much sorrow and suffering in our world? Will we not be seen to be judgmental, heartless, hypocritical and self righteous? Even worse, what if we say that Covid 19 is God's answer to our prayers for revival? How are we to share the good news of God's unconditional and universal love in such times?

As I read Exodus 32 and Isaiah 55 in my devotional readings for today, I was reminded of the "burning anger" of God as well as the truth that God's ways are not our ways and His thoughts are not our thoughts. We need to come to terms with the wrath of God even as we seek the agape Love of God. As we see lockdowns happening all over the world, it looks like God is resetting all our world systems. 

We are also reminded of how important each individual is and how much we depend on one another. It has been said that "nobody is safe until everybody is safe." For not even the rich, famous and powerful are immune to the Covid 19 virus. It is a time of an awakening of the spirit of compassion in all of us. It is a time to hold fast to the promise that God's everlasting Love endures forever - that love always trump evil and that perfect love casts out all fear.

Last year, I had recorded the following thoughts from my devotional readings for 26th March 2019:

"Faithful living is easy when everything is going smoothly and according to our wishes. But when we are tested and the reality is not to our liking or unsatisfactory, our circumstances may cause our faith to falter...... I know there will be challenges ahead. But I also know that God will help me as I hold fast to the promise that God's plan will be for my good."

"Thank God that you can't see the whole scope of his work which would cause your brain to freeze! Also thank Him that, in His perfect timing, He'll reveal the next steps of His plan for your life."

"As long as I am constantly concerned about what I "ought" to say, think, do, or feel, I am still the victim of my surroundings and am not liberated...But when I can accept my identity from God and allow Him to be the center of my life, I am liberated from compulsion and can move without restraints."

"Our powerlessness is the source of vitality in our relationship with God...I will set aside my "shoulds" and return to trust in my Higher Power."

"Go to God in humility and be hungry to learn from His Word. Ask Him daily to teach you what you should do in every situation. Don't be a know-it-all; ask God to teach you what you need to learn today."

And so one of the hidden blessings of all the social distancing measures in place is that we now have the time and opportunity to practice solitude, silence and meditation on God's Word. As I re-read my journal entry for last year, I realised that it is so difficult to put into practice all that I had read in my devotionals when I am caught up in work. Now I have the time to recover the lost art of Christian meditation in silent prayer - to dwell on and dwell in God's Word to hide it in my heart and to experience the truth that the fruit of silence is the true prayer that will bear the fruits of faith, love, service and peace.

Dr. Calvin Chong in the Lenten devotional for today shared the following lesson:

"The greatness of God lies not merely in Him accepting the worship from the faithful, but in Him extending mercy and grace to the faithless, forgetful and fallen!"

We can choose to live an awful life that is rooted in fear or to live a life filled with the awe of God's mercy and grace for the countless times when we have been faithless, forgetful and fallen. And it is in the storms of life that we can cry out to God, “I do believe, but help me overcome my unbelief!” (Mark 9:24 NLT) It is the agape love of God revealed in the Cross of Christ that empowers us to live our lives in wonder and not in fear. 

We can choose to see the Covid 19 pandemic as God's wake up call to dangers of pride, lust and greed. Jesus taught us that "blessed are the poor for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven."  The first "be-attitude" of the Kingdom of Heaven is the spirit of poverty which is God's antidote to pride, lust and greed. Heaven is not a place we go to when we die - it is the state of being in a close, personal and intimate relationship with God in the here and now. We are to live out the good news that Jesus Christ died on the cross to bring us back into fellowship with God as our Abba, Heavenly Father. 

Covid 19 is to drive us to seek the first key to the Kingdom of Heaven - the spirit of poverty to recognise and accept our powerlessness over sin and evil. Only then will we turn back to God and to surrender our all to Him. As we do so, we will experience the truth of God's promise that we "will be enriched in every way so that you can always be generous" And as our gifts are given to those who need them, they will thank God. So two good things will result from this ministry of giving—the needs of the poor will be met and they will joyfully express their thanks to God. (2 Corinthians 9:11-12 NLT)

Calvin Chong, in his devotional, invited us to find a hymn or contemporary worship song that captures the spirit of worshiping God for both His blinding glory as well as His boundless goodness and grace. I felt led to the song, "Yet Not I, but through Christ in me" which my six year old grand-daughter had shared with me a few weeks ago. I was uplifted  by the following verses:

"The night is dark but I am not forsaken
For by my side, the Saviour He will stay
I labour on in weakness and rejoicing
For in my need, His power is displayed

To this I hold, my Shepherd will defend me
Through the deepest valley He will lead
Oh the night has been won, and I shall overcome!
Yet not I, but through Christ in me

No fate I dread, I know I am forgiven
The future sure, the price it has been paid
For Jesus bled and suffered for my pardon
And He was raised to overthrow the grave

To this I hold, my sin has been defeated
Jesus now and ever is my plea
Oh the chains are released, I can sing: I am free!
Yet not I, but through Christ in me"

And so I can praise God for Covid 19 as the pandemic is drawing me closer to Him and has opened my eyes to the truth of His wonderful promise of His Presence, Power and Peace that when I live in the Shelter of the Most High I will find rest in the Shadow of the Almighty.

The Secret War

“Praise God’s name forever and ever! Power and wisdom belong to him.  He changes the times and seasons. He gives power to kings, and he takes their power away. He gives wisdom to people, so they become wise. He lets people learn things and become wise.  He knows hidden secrets that are hard to understand. Light lives with him, so he knows what is in the dark and secret places." Daniel 2:20-22

The whole world is at war with the Covid 19 virus. We are bombarded with grim images of  pain, sorrow and grief every day. We are reminded of how precious health is and how fragile wealth is. Health and wealth have been the idols of our modern society. There is a secret battle for our hearts since the beginning of time. We have the mind of Adam which seeks to be god instead of the mind of Christ which seeks to bear the image of God's love and to glorify God. 

Our mission is to bring heaven to earth and we are in the midst of a secret war "against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places. (Ephesians 6:12, NLT) But the battle belongs to the Lord and the challenge is to practice the obedience of faith - to seek the Lord and to wait on Him. 

We are all infected by the sin virus which is more infectious and deadly than the Covid 19 virus. As the world desperately tries to flatten the curve of the Covid 19 infection, God is flattening the curve of inequality and injustice in the world.  Covid 19 became a pandemic as many were not vigilant in practising hygienic measures and social distancing seriously. Likewise, the sin virus is threatening the spiritual, moral and ethical health of all of us. 

The social distancing forced upon us is a wake up call - to teach us again the ancient wisdom of solitude, silence and contemplation. It is a time to learn to be still so that God can search our hearts:

"Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. Point out anything in me that offends you, and lead me along the path of everlasting life." Psalms 139:23-24 NLT

Indeed, God is changing the times and seasons of the world and has promised wisdom and comfort to help us understand the blessing of sorrow. With our worldly spirit, we see sorrow as a punishment from an angry God for our sins.  But Jesus Christ came to open our eyes to see sorrow as a blessing when we are reborn again as the children of God. Jesus came to teach us the secret of suffering when He died on the cross and rose from the grave. And through His resurrection He has given us the Holy Spirit to fulfill the truth of the second beatitude:

"Blessed are those who mourn, For they shall be comforted." Matthew 5:4 NKJV

God knows our sorrows and griefs as well as the dark and secret places of our hearts.  When we put our trust in God as our Abba Father, we experience His unfailing Love embracing us and comforting us:

"All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is our merciful Father and the source of all comfort. He comforts us in all our troubles so that we can comfort others. When they are troubled, we will be able to give them the same comfort God has given us. For the more we suffer for Christ, the more God will shower us with his comfort through Christ." 2 Corinthians 1:3-5 NLT

The good news is that God has given as the Holy Spirit as the love vaccine to immunise us against the sin virus. With the Holy Spirit, we have love, joy and peace to overcome our lust, guilt and fears. We can cultivate the fruits of patience, kindness and goodness to counter the sins of anger, greed and envy. And we can put on faithfulness, humility and self control to cure the sins of sloth, pride and gluttony.

The Covid 19 pandemic is a hidden blessing to remind us that Lent is a time for prayer and reflection on God's Word. It is a time to be in the wilderness of our lives and to face the truth that we are in the midst of a spiritual war and a deadly spiritual infection. There are difficult times and storms ahead of us but we can praise God that His Love always trumps evil and that everything will work for good for all who truly love God.

Embracing God Only

"And the second command is like the first: ‘Love your neighbor the same as you love yourself.’  All of the law and the writings of the prophets take their meaning from these two commands.” Matthew 22:39-40 ERV

With the Covid 19 pandemic, millions of people all the over the world have to practice social distancing and to reduce physical contact with one another. This can be very stressful and a heavy burden but we have a choice to turn this time into an invitation and opportunity to practice solitude and silence to "reset" our minds so that our hearts may be more in tune with the heartbeat of God. We can choose to use this time in the season of Lent to Embrace God Only and to confess that we have been Edging God Out.

In times of illness, disasters and tragedies, we are driven to find answers for our predicament. Like the disciples of Jesus, we read in chapter 9 of the gospel of John, that they asked Jesus why a man was born blind: 

"While Jesus was walking, he saw a man who had been blind since the time he was born. Jesus’ followers asked him, “Teacher, why was this man born blind? Whose sin made it happen? Was it his own sin or that of his parents?” John 9:1-2 ERV

But Jesus answered:

“It was not any sin of this man or his parents that caused him to be blind. He was born blind so that he could be used to show what great things God can do. John 9:3 ERV

When we see things from a humanistic and religious perspective that is focused on obedience to the law we are blind to the unseen presence of God and the hidden action of His amazing grace. The faith of the Pharisees was a second hand faith:

"We are followers of Moses. We know that God spoke to Moses. But we don’t even know where this man comes from!” John 9:29 ERV

They were blind to the miraculous signs of God at work in the blind man because of their bondage to the law - “That man does not obey the law about the Sabbath day. So he is not from God.” John 9:16

Jesus came to set us free from living a life that is in bondage to rules and regulations so that we can live the life of freedom that comes from loving God, others and ourselves. The meaning of all the laws and writings of the prophets is to draw us to Jesus Christ, our Shepherd of Love. We are to love others as the evidence of our love for God:

"Dear friends, since God loved us that much, we surely ought to love each other. No one has ever seen God. But if we love each other, God lives in us, and his love is brought to full expression in us." 1 John 4:11-12 NLT

However, we cannot truly love others unless we love ourselves - not to satisfy our lustful desires - but out of gratitude for being the beloved of God.  Like the man who was born blind, we will then have a first hand testimony of how God loves us and has been at work in our lives:

"The man answered, “This is really strange! You don’t know where he comes from, but he healed my eyes. We all know that God does not listen to sinners, but he will listen to anyone who worships and obeys him. This is the first time we have ever heard of anyone healing the eyes of someone born blind. This man must be from God. If he were not from God, he could not do anything like this.” John 9:30-33 ERV

In these troubled times when the world is in turmoil and darkness and future is uncertain and unpredictable, we need the Light of Christ that can only be found in the darkness of faith that lies beyond our feeling, thinking, understanding and beliefs. We need to confess our pride of knowledge and to pray for wisdom of the Holy Spirit.

Anthony de Mello had written about the greatest need of the church:

"The Church is passing through a period of chaos and crisis. This is not necessarily a bad thing. A crisis is a challenge to grow. Chaos precedes creation - provided, and this is a big proviso, the Spirit of God is hovering over it.

The greatest need of the Church today is not new legislation, new theology, new structures, new liturgies - all these without the Holy Spirit are like a dead body without a soul. We desperately need someone to take away our hearts of stone and give us a heart of flesh; we need a fresh infusion of enthusiasm and inspiration and courage and spiritual strength. We need to persevere in our task without discouragement or cynicism, with new faith in the future and in the people we work for. In other words, we need a fresh outpouring of the Holy Spirit."

We can use this time of social distancing to wait on God and for the Holy Spirit to pour God's love into our hearts. In this time of chaos and anxiety, we will have many opportunities to experience the grace of God. Anthony de Mello warns us that without the leading of the Holy Spirit we will be lying witnesses or pushers who are insecure people with a compulsion to convince others so that they themselves will be less insecure.

Let us encourage one another to Embrace God Only by waiting on God and sharing how we have experienced God's love and grace in our struggles, doubts and fears in these turbulent times.

Putting On Christ

For you are all children of God through faith in Christ Jesus. And all who have been united with Christ in baptism have put on Christ, like putting on new clothes.  There is no longer Jew or Gentile, slave or free, male and female. For you are all one in Christ Jesus. Galatians 3:26-28 NLT

The Covid 19 pandemic heightens our awareness to several truths about life that we have not been paying attention to. Firstly, the virus draws our attention to the reality of how much we need one another, how infectious our thoughts and actions can be and how important it is to care for one another. Secondly, the virus forces us to face the reality of how fragile life and wealth can be. Thirdly, the virus exposes the spiritual condition of our hearts.

Angela Merkel has described the Covid 19 pandemic as the biggest challenge to Germany since World War II. It is indeed a crisis that may spell the end of the capitalistic economy. But it is also the greatest opportunity for all of us who believe that we are the children of God through faith in Christ Jesus to live out the truth that we are all one in Christ Jesus.

To do so, we need to put on Christ who is our robe of righteousness. But how are we to put on Christ in our daily lives? The apostle Paul uses the metaphor of putting on new clothes. So we first have to take off our old clothes of guilt and self righteousness. Many of us are living in the mental prisons of our past or we are living with nightmares of the future. The first step to putting on Christ is well described by Eugene Peterson in his interpretation of Romans 12:1-2:

"So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you. Romans 12:1-2 MSG

Like the prodigal son and the alcoholics in the Alcoholic Anonymous programme, we need to take the first steps of admitting our powerlessness in a future that is so unpredictable and uncertain as well as full of potential calamities such as economic collapse, viral pandemics, world wars and climate change. We need to believe in a God of love who holds the future in His hands and who can restore us to sanity and to turn our wills and our lives to Him.

Jesus came to set us free from the prisons of our past so that they can be our universities to help us live more fully in the present and to see God's dreams for our future. When we take the first step of turning back to God we will, like the prodigal son, find God waiting for us. Richard Rohr drew attention of the goal of true prayer - to give us access to God, to allow us to listen to God and to hear Him as well as to experience God's presence deep within our hearts.

Covid 19 is to open our eyes to the truths of the first two beatitudes which Eugene Peterson has translated as follows:

“You’re blessed when you’re at the end of your rope. With less of you there is more of God and his rule.

You’re blessed when you feel you’ve lost what is most dear to you. Only then can you be embraced by the One most dear to you." Matthew 5:3-4 MSG

Eugene Peterson also gives us the following wise advice in Romans 12:3:

"I’m speaking to you out of deep gratitude for all that God has given me, and especially as I have responsibilities in relation to you. Living then, as every one of you does, in pure grace, it’s important that you not misinterpret yourselves as people who are bringing this goodness to God. No, God brings it all to you. The only accurate way to understand ourselves is by what God is and by what he does for us, not by what we are and what we do for him." Romans 12:3 MSG

Let us therefore give thanks that we can live by grace. As we wash our hands, use the sanitisers and wear masks during this Covid 19 pandemic, let us remember to put on Christ and seek the Holy Spirit to cleanse our hearts, rewire our thoughts and renew our minds.

The Law & The Spirit

"How foolish can you be? After starting your new lives in the Spirit, why are you now trying to become perfect by your own human effort?" Galatians 3:3 NLT

It is our human nature to try to be in control of our lives. We want to be gods instead of being godlike in our relationships. We need the light of God's Word to reveal the darkness that is deep within our hearts. The spiritual condition of our human hearts is diagnosed by the prophet Jeremiah as follows:

“The human heart is the most deceitful of all things, and desperately wicked. Who really knows how bad it is?" Jeremiah 17:9 NLT

One of the important objectives of reading and reflecting on the bible is to open our hearts and minds to the Holy Spirit. We need to pray for the Holy Spirit to search our hearts and to reveal our unconscious sinful desires to our conscious minds. We need to be aware of our imperfections and weaknesses so that we can draw close to God to seek His grace to overcome them.

Unlike Adam and Eve, we need not be ashamed of our naked imperfect selves and hide from God for "Christ has rescued us from the curse pronounced by the law. When he was hung on the cross, he took upon himself the curse for our wrongdoing. For it is written in the Scriptures, “Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree.” Galatians 3:13 NLT

Jesus came to set us free from guilt, the fear of death and the wrath of God so that we can live new transformed lives in the Spirit. This will change our attitude towards the bible. Instead of looking for facts to bolster our faith, we read and listen to God's Word for the Holy Spirit to reveal truths that we need to put into practice in our lives so that our faith in God's love will grow:

"No one can know a person’s thoughts except that person’s own spirit, and no one can know God’s thoughts except God’s own Spirit. And we have received God’s Spirit (not the world’s spirit), so we can know the wonderful things God has freely given us." 1 Corinthians 2:11-12 NLT

The apostle Paul drew the attention of the Galatian Christians to the following truths from the Old Testament:

1. The way of the law:

If you obey my decrees and my regulations, you will find life through them. I am the Lord. Leviticus 18:5 NLT

2. The curse of depending on the law to be made right with God:

‘Cursed is anyone who does not affirm and obey the terms of these instructions.’ And all the people will reply, ‘Amen.’ Deuteronomy 27:26 NLT
3. Abraham's faith:

And Abram believed the Lord , and the Lord counted him as righteous because of his faith. Genesis 15:6 NLT

4. God's promise to Abraham:

I will bless those who bless you and curse those who treat you with contempt. All the families on earth will be blessed through you.” Genesis 12:3 NLT

“For Abraham will certainly become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth will be blessed through him. Genesis 18:18 NLT

And through your descendants all the nations of the earth will be blessed—all because you have obeyed me.” Genesis 22:18 NLT

5. The need to live by faith:

“Look at the proud! They trust in themselves, and their lives are crooked. But the righteous will live by their faithfulness to God. Habakkuk 2:4 NLT

6. Christ's rescue from the curse of the law:

“If someone has committed a crime worthy of death and is executed and hung on a tree,  the body must not remain hanging from the tree overnight. You must bury the body that same day, for anyone who is hung is cursed in the sight of God." Deuteronomy 21:22-23 NLT

It is our faith in what Jesus Christ has done for us on the cross that will set us free from trying to please God by trying to obey rules instead of having a relationship with Him. When we receive the promise of God's gift of the Holy Spirit we become God's new creations. The life of Abraham gives us a glimpse of how God is at work in our lives when we live by faith. We will not live for worldly blessings but we will live to be spiritually fruitful by being a blessing to others.

We may not live perfect lives but we can trust that God will use even our imperfections for His glory. May we live by faith and grow in faith. May we live with heaven in our hearts so that we can face whatever hells we may face here on earth.